Empty The Freezer Challenge {Day 10}

Welcome To Day 10 Of The Empty The Freezer Challenge!

[Read Day 9 Of The Empty The Freezer Challenge Here]

Before we get into day 9, if you’re new to the challenge, I’m taking a little break from my regular postings in December to do a Challenge designed to help save money, simplify, and prepare for the new year:

The “Empty The Freezer Challenge”

What is it? The Empty The Freezer Challenge is my way of encouraging you to not only slow down this season, but save money and get creative! I would guess that most of you are like us: you have tons of food in your freezer which may or may not be edible, that you’ve either forgotten or aren’t super motivated to eat.

They may require some creative meal preparation or presentation, but they’re still good to eat!

Starting December 1st, I’ll by on a mission to use up everything in my freezer – that is still safe to eat. I don’t want to buy anything from the grocery store except for milk. We get eggs from friends who have chickens, so don’t think we’re avoiding using eggs – we’re not.

We may or may not get through all of the food in our THREE freezers, but we’re going to try! Then, on December 25th when we have family over I’ll finally be able to cook with new food from the grocery store!

What Will The Challenge Accomplish?

The Empty The Freezer Challenge have several purposes:

It will encourage you to spend very little/no money on groceries during most of the month of December – a no-spend month of sorts, but without calling it that.
It will get tons of food our of your freezer!
And it will give you a blank slate for the new year – at least as far as your fridge/freezer are concerned
As a bonus, your family will probably complain a lot less in 2016 when you make a creative or inexpensive meal!

Thursday was kind of a weird day for us.

Not only were we packing to go out of town, little miss had the flu. We didn’t know it, we just thought she was teething and generally being cranky.

But we didn’t find that out until about 9pm, after we were already at the hotel.

Fun times.

But even though the whole day Thursday and most of Friday sucked, it did teach me one thing:

It’s Ok To Take Shortcuts….Sometimes

We knew we would be traveling, so we just resigned ourselves to the fact that eating out was going to happen. And with a cranky kiddos and a schedule to keep, we decided to hit up a barbecue place that we like on the way down, and buy several pounds of brisket and coleslaw that could easily be reheated for the 3 days that we would be living out the hotel.

The cost for that, plus a run to Walmart after we arrived totaled about $50, but it was well worth it, especially once it became apparent that little miss had the flu.

We really did not want to eat out, or even take a trip to walmart, but sometimes things happen in life that you can’t control.

Like the flu.

While you’re traveling.

Which is today’s takeaway.